Krishi Vigyan Kendra, JAU, Rajkot-I
District Profile:
Land utilization pattern & District demographic particulars
There is total 11 districts in Saurashtra region of Gujarat State. Among of them, Rajkot district constituted from the central region of Saurashtra. The district is situated between 23°08' North latitude and 70020' East longitude. District is surrounded by Morvi in North, Jamnagar, Porbandar in East, Botad and Surendranagar in West, and Amreli and Junagadh in South
District at a glance
|
Geographical area (ha) |
: |
768989 |
|
Population |
: |
30.35 lacs |
|
Cultivated area (ha) |
: |
470176 |
|
Male/Female |
: |
1577759/ 1456963 |
|
Waste land (ha) |
: |
|
|
Caste |
: |
SC- 7.81 %, ST- 0.64 % |
|
Culturable area (ha) |
: |
|
|
Total No.of Villages |
: |
583 |
|
Percent irrigated area |
: |
34.92 % |
|
Literacy |
: |
81.71 % |
|
Total area under forest(ha) |
: |
0.38 lacs |
|
Tehsils |
: |
11 |
|
Average rainfall |
: |
648.0 mm |
|
Livestock |
: |
1165143 |
(Source: DISTRICT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT, District profile,Rajkot,GOG)
Climate:
Rajkot district has largely a hot, dry weather, though it experiences all three seasons: winter, summer and monsoon. Monsoon is from 2nd half of June to 2nd half of September. Average rainfall is 676 mm. But actual rainy days are about 30, the rest being mild cool to hot.
The winter starts in late November and is generally up tomid-February. Average temperatures are around 200C, but night temperatures could be below 100C.Summer starts in March and may last till onset of monsoon in June. Temperatures could be average of 37-380C, but could be 40-450C on some days. The climate, thus may be similar to arid zone, a little milder.
Soils
The soils of the district are generally derived from basaltic rock known as Deccan trap. Trap rock forms a ferruginous gravelly material known as murrum which underlie soil. The soils are shallow to moderately deep and brown red or black in color. The soils have been classified into five group viz., shallow black, medium black, saline alkaline, residual sandy and hilly soils. The soils of this district generally are low medium and high in available nitrogen, phosphorus and potash respectively.
The Soils of Rajkot district is sandy clay loam to clayey in texture. Due to high clay content, cracking of soil occurs up to considerable depth (30cm). It is neutral to alkaline in reaction and. The soils are having water holding capacity 68.00 %, Permanent Witting Point 17.70%, Field Capacity 34.00%, EC 0.15 ds/m and pH 7.8.
Crops and Cropping Patterns
Important crops grown in this district are groundnut, cotton, sesamun, castor, pulses, pearl millet, sorghum during Kharif and wheat, cumin, chickpea etc. during Rabi. While in summer groundnut, sesamum, mung, urad and fodder crops are cultivated.
The major crop sequences/rotations followed
1. Groundnut: Groundnut – Groundnut, Groundnut – Cotton, Groundnut – sesamum, Groundnut –Wheat/Cumin/chick pea /vegetable/fodder crops,
2. Pearl millet: Pearl millet- Groundnut/Green gram/Cumin/Garlic.
3. Cotton: Cotton–Cotton/wheat/summer groundnut/summer sesamum/mung
Major intercropping systems followed in the district are: groundnut+ castor (3:1) groundnut + pigeon pea (3:1), groundnut + sesamum (6:3), pearl millet + pigeon pea (2:1), sorghum + pigeon pea (1:1) and cotton + green gram /black gram/groundnut in paired row system.